The present invention relates to electronic communication in an ultrasonic system and, more particularly, to a system and method for time domain multiplexed communication in an ultrasonic imaging system.
Typically, ultrasonic imaging systems include an ultrasonic probe with an ultrasonic array having a plurality of ultrasonic elements. With some of these ultrasonic imaging systems, such as, for example, 2-D and 3-D reconstruction systems, the number of ultrasonic elements becomes relatively high. Typically, a separate co-axial cable for each ultrasonic element is used to transmit ultrasonic data that is obtained from the ultrasonic element to various ultrasonic data processing electronics. For ultrasonic imaging systems having a high number of ultrasonic element, such as, for example, 2-D and/or 3-D reconstruction systems, the number of co-axial cables can be over 500 cables. As such, cable bundles connecting the probe to the various ultrasonic data processing electronics can include over 500 individual co-axial cables. Cable bundles housing over 500 individual co-axial cables are stiff and difficult to manipulate. In other ultrasonic imaging systems that have less ultrasonic elements, the cable bundles house about 128 co-axial cables. These cable bundles having about 128 co-axial cables have been found to be more flexible and easier to manipulate. Therefore, in ultrasonic systems with a large number of cables, there is a desire to reduce the number of cables and/or the size of the cable bundle connecting the ultrasonic probe to the ultrasonic data processing electronics such that the ultrasonic probe can be easier to manipulate during ultrasonic imaging procedures.
In a prior system used to reduce the number of cables or the size of the cable bundle, fiber optic cables are used to replace the co-axial cables because fiber optic cables are more flexible than co-axial cables. However, the ultrasonic system using fiber optic cables requires digital optical modulation that uses a time gain control (TGC) amplifier and an analog to digital (A/D) converter for each ultrasonic element in the ultrasonic array. As such, in ultrasonic systems where the ultrasonic array has over 500 ultrasonic elements, these fiber optic systems are expensive and have high energy consumption.
In another prior system, the number of cable bundles is reduced using frequency domain multiplexing. In these systems, a frequency domain multiplexer is connected to the ultrasonic array and connects the number of cables from the ultrasonic array to a lesser number of cables in an output to the frequency domain multiplexer. The switching between the cables of the ultrasonic array was based on frequency domain criteria. However, since the ultrasonic signals are typically analog signals, the frequency domain multiplexed systems can only combine a relatively small number of signals using a frequency domain multiplexer. As such, the number of cables and/or the size of the cable bundles is not reduce to a number that make the ultrasonic probe easier to use and manipulate during ultrasonic imaging procedures. As such, there is a desire to produce an ultrasonic imaging system and method that reduces the number of cables or the size of the cable bundle connecting the ultrasonic probe to the ultrasonic data processing electronics. In addition, there is a desire for a system and method that reduces the number of cables and/or the size of the cable bundle without the above-identified limitations and without increased costs of operation of the ultrasonic imaging system.